Already my page is in danger of becoming a stream of consciousness tacked together with shoddy prose. I shall try to add some headings...
...and yet headings still elude me. However, in the interim, here's a bit of science news that blew my tiny mind recently... http://scopeblog.stanford.edu/2011/03/3d_printer - it looks like we might be able to print out human organs for transplantation (implantation, surely, if they haven't been in another person...) within our lifetimes. Of course, they haven't perfected it yet so until further notice, continue to give your liver at least a day off a week.
I've just been given a link to a presentation given by Sir Ken Robinson to the RSA as part of their RSA animate series. I bet you'll see this at a keynote address or two in the next year... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U&feature=player_embedded - not just a beautiful and quite compelling way to show a presentation but also a fine argument, in my view. You can go to the RSA website and get the whoe presentation, too. Well worth ten minutes of your time.
Interesting links for physics teachers:
Here's a fine example of the bizarreness of modern physics as some Dutch bloke explains that gravity is just an illusion . Is anyone thinking that the initial inspiration came in an Amsterdam cafe?
There's a great series of films on the Large Hadron Collider on the colliding particles site. The site also has some teaching resources that you can use with physics classes. I was very lucky to lead a party of science teachers on a visit to CERN in March. It's an incredible place, truly inspiring, that makes you want to be a particle physicist. If it were within my power I'd make that opportunity avaiable to every A level physicist in the country.
Websites worth the occasional visit:
If you don't already follow Ben Goldacre's Bad Science website, then I thoroughly recommend it. Not only is he occasionally hilarious (check out the entries on Gillian McKeith) but also has a lot to say about science in society. There's a lot here that you could use in teaching How Science Works. Website possibly not suitable for younger readers.
If you're interested in the process of 'debate' in the modern media then I'd recommend stopping by Fallacy Files: a site devoted to logical fallacy in the media. Also invaluable if looking at any debate-based work is the Physics Ethics Education Project (PEEP) website.
If you are looking at the portrayal of science in the media, then don't ignore pseudo-science; there's an exellent site here that Derren Brown got involved in called Science of Scams, also useful when you do optics as an illustration of Pepper's Ghost (I should warn you that there's one incidence of bad language on that particular film if you're planning to show it to kids). I'd also invite your students to look at the scientific references and studies quoted on products like this one: the Qlink pendant, and try their own critique or, if you've got an imaginative group, try finidng some fringe research and start your own New-Age science rip-off business.
Finally, if you're looking for some engaging science for your classes, try the Naked Scientists (no nudity, it's OK) or Not Exactly Rocket Science, the latter in particular an example of good science writing.
While we're on good scientific writing, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Hayley Birch's blog, Words of Science, Hayley is a talented and interesting writer and also one of the people behind Geek Pop, trying to get a little more science into music (I have to mention them as they gave my band a gig at the Green Man festival...)
Gags and distractions:
This will become relevant as we study dynamics... http://xkcd.com/669/
A physicist is on his way to the lab when his train of thought is disturbed by a shout from above. Above him, in the mist, is a man in a hot air balloon.
"Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him half an hour ago, but I don't know where I am."
The physicist replies, "You are in a hot air balloon hovering approximately six metres above the ground. You are between 42 and 44 degrees north latitude and between 83 and 85 degrees west longitude."
"You must be an physicist," says the balloonist.
"I am, but how did you know?"
"Well," answered the balloonist, "everything you told me is technically correct, but I have no idea how it can be applied to my situation and in practical terms I am still lost."
The physicist replies: "You must be in management."
"I am," replies the balloonist, "how did you know?"
"Well," says the physicist, "you don't know where you are or where you are going. You're held in your elevated position entirely by hot air. You made a promise which you have no idea how to keep and you expect me to solve your problem. The fact is you are exactly in the same position you were in before we met and yet now, somehow, it's my fault."
If you're having a serious physics/engineering geek moment and you have limitless free time to fritter away, have a look at soda constructor. If you're busy or have a social life, stay away!
Not so much a gag or a distraction but I thought I'd share my reflections on a trip to CERN with you. I'd encourage any of you to blog a little about science, it makes you think in a different way about science and how it fits into the rest of your world view.
...and yet headings still elude me. However, in the interim, here's a bit of science news that blew my tiny mind recently...
http://scopeblog.stanford.edu/2011/03/3d_printer - it looks like we might be able to print out human organs for transplantation (implantation, surely, if they haven't been in another person...) within our lifetimes. Of course, they haven't perfected it yet so until further notice, continue to give your liver at least a day off a week.
I've just been given a link to a presentation given by Sir Ken Robinson to the RSA as part of their RSA animate series. I bet you'll see this at a keynote address or two in the next year...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U&feature=player_embedded - not just a beautiful and quite compelling way to show a presentation but also a fine argument, in my view. You can go to the RSA website and get the whoe presentation, too. Well worth ten minutes of your time.
Interesting links for physics teachers:
Here's a fine example of the bizarreness of modern physics as some Dutch bloke explains that gravity is just an illusion . Is anyone thinking that the initial inspiration came in an Amsterdam cafe?
There's a great series of films on the Large Hadron Collider on the colliding particles site. The site also has some teaching resources that you can use with physics classes. I was very lucky to lead a party of science teachers on a visit to CERN in March. It's an incredible place, truly inspiring, that makes you want to be a particle physicist. If it were within my power I'd make that opportunity avaiable to every A level physicist in the country.
Websites worth the occasional visit:
If you don't already follow Ben Goldacre's Bad Science website, then I thoroughly recommend it. Not only is he occasionally hilarious (check out the entries on Gillian McKeith) but also has a lot to say about science in society. There's a lot here that you could use in teaching How Science Works. Website possibly not suitable for younger readers.
If you're interested in the process of 'debate' in the modern media then I'd recommend stopping by Fallacy Files: a site devoted to logical fallacy in the media. Also invaluable if looking at any debate-based work is the Physics Ethics Education Project (PEEP) website.
If you are looking at the portrayal of science in the media, then don't ignore pseudo-science; there's an exellent site here that Derren Brown got involved in called Science of Scams, also useful when you do optics as an illustration of Pepper's Ghost (I should warn you that there's one incidence of bad language on that particular film if you're planning to show it to kids). I'd also invite your students to look at the scientific references and studies quoted on products like this one: the Qlink pendant, and try their own critique or, if you've got an imaginative group, try finidng some fringe research and start your own New-Age science rip-off business.
Finally, if you're looking for some engaging science for your classes, try the Naked Scientists (no nudity, it's OK) or Not Exactly Rocket Science, the latter in particular an example of good science writing.
While we're on good scientific writing, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Hayley Birch's blog, Words of Science, Hayley is a talented and interesting writer and also one of the people behind Geek Pop, trying to get a little more science into music (I have to mention them as they gave my band a gig at the Green Man festival...)
Gags and distractions:
This will become relevant as we study dynamics... http://xkcd.com/669/
Cripes! Did you know that your satnav has to take account of relativity? That's a lot of high-demand mathematics to get a celebrity voice telling you to drive the wrong way up the M5...
A physicist is on his way to the lab when his train of thought is disturbed by a shout from above. Above him, in the mist, is a man in a hot air balloon.
"Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him half an hour ago, but I don't know where I am."
The physicist replies, "You are in a hot air balloon hovering approximately six metres above the ground. You are between 42 and 44 degrees north latitude and between 83 and 85 degrees west longitude."
"You must be an physicist," says the balloonist.
"I am, but how did you know?"
"Well," answered the balloonist, "everything you told me is technically correct, but I have no idea how it can be applied to my situation and in practical terms I am still lost."
The physicist replies: "You must be in management."
"I am," replies the balloonist, "how did you know?"
"Well," says the physicist, "you don't know where you are or where you are going. You're held in your elevated position entirely by hot air. You made a promise which you have no idea how to keep and you expect me to solve your problem. The fact is you are exactly in the same position you were in before we met and yet now, somehow, it's my fault."
If you're having a serious physics/engineering geek moment and you have limitless free time to fritter away, have a look at soda constructor. If you're busy or have a social life, stay away!
Not so much a gag or a distraction but I thought I'd share my reflections on a trip to CERN with you. I'd encourage any of you to blog a little about science, it makes you think in a different way about science and how it fits into the rest of your world view.